I recently read a blog (http://theocchronicles.com/2013/01/25/women-in-ministry/) that expressed the writer’s reservations about the place of women in ministry. Ironically, the writer was a woman. Questioning the legitimacy of women in leadership positions, she confesses: “But for now, in January of 2013, I am not ready to abandon biblical principles that are so clearly spelled out…
The behavioral aspect of “love-hate” relationships is undoubtedly in view in Genesis 37:3 where we read that “Israel (the converted Jacob) ‘loved’ Joseph more than all his sons.” This must not be taken to indicate Jacob’s emotional disconnection or disregard or, even worse, disdain for his “other” sons; the literary context and historical detail point…
Today is the day our nation has set aside to honor the life and accomplishments of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.—and rightfully so. Yet, as with any high profile public figure, we must bear in mind that to elevate any person to “sainthood” status, or to defrock a person from such elevated status, is neither…
Jacob’s life is truly a paragon of the gospel. Though not the first, he is certainly an early pioneer “sheep” extracted from a world of wandering “goats.” As we meet him in Genesis 32, he is standing on the frontier of the land promised to his grandfather Abraham. To this point, his life has been…
Chances are, every single one of us at one time or another has been the victim of mistaken motives, simply because someone took something we said “out of context.” The fact is that without a full understanding of its socio-cultural context, any speech or action or event is subject to gross misinterpretation. The theological history…
The account of Jacob and his Uncle Laban in Genesis 29:18-30 is a classic example of the adage “what goes around comes around.” Jacob, who had deceived his father into giving him the blessing that rightfully belonged to his older brother Esau by wearing the skins of a goat, awakens “the morning after” his wedding…
Any way you slice the ethical pie, in passing off a wife as a sister, Abraham’s scams (did I mention there were two occasions! Genesis 12:10-20 and again!!! in Genesis 20:1-18 ) and Isaac’s scam (Genesis 26:7-11) were all deliberate attempts to deceive [even though Sarah was technically also Abraham’s half-sister] Here’s the point: we have here…
The account of Isaac and Rebekah in Genesis 26:7-11 so closely parallels the account of Abraham passing himself off as Sarah’s “brother” in Genesis 12:10-20 and (again!!!) in Genesis 20:1-18 that some scholars cry “foul!” They see the Isaac and Rebekah story as a reenactment as resulting from a purely literary creation (the situational and…
The account of Jacob and Esau in Genesis 25 reminds us of a problem that we cannot blame entirely on the influence of a surrounding ungodly culture—although many in our culture have used our common problem for their profit. The malady I am speaking is the all too popular “I-want-it-NOW! Syndrome. The underlying character flaw…
Early this morning I experienced the story of Abraham’s near sacrifice of his son, Isaac, in a fresh way. Now I’ve read this account many times over the course of my life, and I’ve heard countless sermons preached from this passage, but something in the text drew my special attention today. For years I’ve carried…